Atiku to FG: Explain N17.5trn expenditure on oil pipeline security in 2024

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has asked the federal government to explain the expenditure of N17.5 trillion on pipeline security in a year.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited reportedly spent N17.5 trillion on securing pipelines in 2024, according to its audited financial statement (AFS).

In a statement on Sunday by his media officer, Abubakar asked the government to publish the complete list of companies awarded the contracts.

“Explain to Nigerians how this expenditure aligns with national priorities at a time of unprecedented economic strangulation,” he said.

“Disclose the scope, deliverables, and duration of each contract.

“Subject the entire ₦17.5 trillion expenditure to an independent forensic audit.”

Abubakar also urged the government to discontinue further disbursement until accountability is established.

“This ₦17.5 trillion pipeline-security expenditure is not merely a financial anomaly — it is a moral indictment on the Tinubu administration and a clarion call for full accountability,” he said.

The politician described the NNPC’s spending on “securing fuel pipelines and others” as one of the “most brazen financial scandals in our nation’s history”.

“For clarity, Nigeria spent roughly ₦18 trillion on fuel subsidy over a period of twelve years — a national programme that directly cushioned millions of Nigerians, stabilised the transport sector, and helped keep food prices manageable,” Abubakar said.

“Yet, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the country has now expended nearly the same amount in a single year on same subsidy and opaque pipeline security contracts awarded to private firms tied to associates and cronies of the President.”

He said the action of the president is similar to “robbing Peter (Nigerians) to pay Paul (cronies)”.

“This is not governance. This is grand larceny dresse as public expenditure,” the politician said.

He said the government ended petrol subsidy citing lack of funds, yet reportedly redirected N17.5 trillion into “opaque security contracts” linked to allies — money that could have supported vital national needs.

Despite petrol selling for as high as N1,000 per litre in some states after petrol subsidy removal, he said the “same administration has spent N7.13tn on what it calls, energy-security cost to keep petrol prices stable”.

He said another N8.67 trillion was spent on “under-recovery”.

“These two balablu nomenclatures: energy-cost and under-recovery are a new coinage of the Tinubu administration to deceive Nigerians on the government’s fraudulent claim that it was no longer paying subsidies on petroleum products,” Abubakar said.

The spending, he said, raises fundamental questions of public trust and national integrity.

He added that the “scandal” confirms that the Tinubu administration “did not end subsidy — it merely redirected public wealth from the entire nation to a privileged cartel anchored around the Presidency”.